soongmak Posted February 15, 2007 Report Share Posted February 15, 2007 I do know who to wai and when etc. Even so this discussion reminds me a bit of when I was a kid and white folks weren't supposed to say please or thank you to black folks or ... God forbid ... call them Mr. (Though my own parents always did!) Ah finally, the voice of reason... :thumbup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FIGJAM Posted February 15, 2007 Report Share Posted February 15, 2007 Even so this discussion reminds me a bit of when I was a kid and white folks weren't supposed to say please or thank you to black folks or ... God forbid ... call them Mr. (Though my own parents always did!) Ah finally' date=' the voice of reason... :thumbup: [/quote'] Yes, it perfectly shows how classist and racist today's Thai society is... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bust Posted February 15, 2007 Report Share Posted February 15, 2007 Yes, it perfectly shows how classist and racist today's Thai society is... The Thai's don't hold exclusivity on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FIGJAM Posted February 15, 2007 Report Share Posted February 15, 2007 The Thai's don't hold exclusivity on that. Who ever said so? They certainly and clearly don't hold exclusivity on racism, classism, xenophobia, corruption, stupidity and pretty much everything else. What we usually (should) discuss here, and what many people seem absolutely unable to understand, is our opinions on the relative DEGREE of their racism, classism, xenophobia, corruption, stupidity etc (relative, I mean, to the other realities we have some direct or indirect knowledge on). The reason for which I rarely post on the boards any more is that so many folks seem to be able to think (think... maybe too strong a word for them ) only in black and white terms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bust Posted February 15, 2007 Report Share Posted February 15, 2007 Yep agree...... but that's what makes it interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expat Posted February 16, 2007 Report Share Posted February 16, 2007 I guessed at the time the gentleman who stated Thai people had nothing interesting to say was wrong and that he was the person who had little to say. And here lies the whole point. He was a Thai-speaking long resident who was talking about something he had a long experience on and actual knowledge of' date=' you were a non-Thai-speaking newbie who was just "GUESSING"... I haven't (twice) asked you about your opinion (which to me was very clear from the start), I just wanted to point out to you the incredible intellectual arrogance of basing your judgment of that fellow's actual experiences [u']on a uneducated GUESS[/u] and, on the same "basis", even giving an opinion on the man himself... That's all. No big deal, I realize. It's just that uneducated guessworking daydreamers defending the Thais "no matter what" annoy me greatly. It is not incredibly intellectually arrogant to guess that a person making a sweeping negative statement about sixty million Thais is more likely wrong than right. To say that my guess was uneducated is wrong also--I have learned about people in my life and I know (and knew) there are many people who feel their own culture is superior to other cultures and will keep that belief no matter what the truth is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FIGJAM Posted February 16, 2007 Report Share Posted February 16, 2007 It is not incredibly intellectually arrogant to guess that a person making a sweeping negative statement about sixty million Thais is more likely wrong than right. Utter nonsense. According to this "logic" (learnt from the Thais?) shouldn't you guess that a person (you yourself) making a sweeping statement about sixty million Thais ("I find Thais in general to be interesting, intelligent and well spoken.") is more likely wrong than right?!? Or does it apply only to sweeping NEGATIVE statements and not to sweeping POSITIVE statements?!? To say that my guess was uneducated is wrong also Well, hold hand vs newbie, Thai-speaking vs non-Thai-speaking (when the subject is precisely what is spoken in Thai...). This is, in your own description, how educated was your GUESS... --I have learned about people in my life and I know (and knew) there are many people who feel their own culture is superior to other cultures and will keep that belief no matter what the truth is. True, I would say the majority of them. And Thais are a very fine example of this (another sweeping statement! Do you consider this one negative, hence most likely wrong?? Or is it positive and thus maybe, perhaps, possibly, could be true??). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristianTroy Posted February 16, 2007 Report Share Posted February 16, 2007 My experiences make me sure of the fact that most Thais are not capable and/or interested in having deep and meaningful conversations. ...and your experience entitles you to rub it into Expats face that he is a newbie even when his name says Expat? Are you judging him by his post count? You seem to already know the answer before the question is asked! (Based on my experience reading your post) It is utter nonsense to say that the majority of Thais can't have a deep and meaningful conversation. For starters, you don't know the majority of Thais. I repeat: you said "IN MY EXPERIENCE" which means nothing else that you surround yourself with people who have not much to say. The people that are surrounding me are very capable of having deep and meaningful conversations, that is why I have chosen them, mybe you choose the wrong partners for a conversation or maybe your approach is wrong. Judging you based on the way you are trying to discredit a poster with a low post count it is implying that you believe to be the greater person, if that is how you approach Thais to get into a deep and meaningful conversation you might have something to work out for yourself! I assume in real life you are not overreacting so strangely and talk down on people because they don't share your opinion. Good luck anyways and I hope you will find the right people to have a conversation with! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expat Posted February 16, 2007 Report Share Posted February 16, 2007 It is not incredibly intellectually arrogant to guess that a person making a sweeping negative statement about sixty million Thais is more likely wrong than right. Utter nonsense. According to this "logic" (learnt from the Thais?) shouldn't you guess that a person (you yourself) making a sweeping statement about sixty million Thais ("I find Thais in general to be interesting' date=' intelligent and well spoken."[/i']) is more likely wrong than right?!? Or does it apply only to sweeping NEGATIVE statements and not to sweeping POSITIVE statements?!? My statement was of my experience. I did not generalize it. It was a statement about the people I have met. Even if I did make a sweeping statement without proper evidence to back it up, it would not make it right. The idea that nobody in Thailand has anything interesting to say is ludicrous--I recognized that then; I recognize it now. To say that my guess was uneducated is wrong also Well' date=' hold hand vs newbie, Thai-speaking vs non-Thai-speaking (when the subject is precisely what is spoken in Thai...). This is, in your own description, how educated was your GUESS...[/quote'] You cut off my quote halfway through my sentence. My idea was contained in a sentence, not a prhase. The idea is that just because someone lives in Thailand and speaks Thai doesn't mean I have to believe everything they say. By that logic, if someone who lived in Thailand when I came here told me that Thai cats like to eat elephants with teaspoons I would have to accept it negating my whole life experience up to that point. You said earlier "My experiences make me sure of the fact that most Thais are not capable and/or interested in having deep and meaningful conversations." I said "I find Thais in general to be interesting, intelligent and well spoken." You reached a sweeping ugly conclusion about a large group of people based on anecdotal evidence. I simply explained what my experience has been so far with the people I have met. You can try and twist things as much as you want, but that is the heart of the matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocThai Posted February 16, 2007 Report Share Posted February 16, 2007 Oh no.. I just found myself agreeing with CT... what is this world coming to! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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